How can you prep your yard and garden for the fall?

lawn careBe proactive in lawn care during fall to make your spring easier. These are some tips to get your garden and lawn ready for winter.

Lawn Care Tips

Prune plants in fall

Some plants may become overgrown as the summer progresses. Your gardens will look much better if you deadhead them — remove spent flower heads – and they will be ready to overwinter. You can also increase the number of flowers next year by pruning and cutting back perennials in fall. Some plants prefer spring pruning. Mulching is also crucial.

Fall Lawn Watering

Even though autumn leaves are changing, your lawn still requires water. However, the growing season is ending and your grass isn’t growing as fast. Fall watering is important to help your lawn recover from the summer stress and prepare for winter. Watering is also important if fertilizing in the fall. This allows the fertilizer to dissolve into the soil and soak into the ground. Don’t forget to water your lawn until it freezes. Your fall grass still requires water.

Fertilize in Fall

Fertilizing Conway SC four times per year if you want the best lawn. Even if you don’t have the time or energy to fertilize four times a year, your lawn will still be great if you fertilize only in fall. Use a fertilizer labeled 4-1-2. These numbers indicate the fertilizer’s percentages of potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Ask a local expert about the best fertilizer mix for your type of fall grass and soil conditions.

Three weeks before the last mowing, apply the fertilizer on your landscaping. The fall fertilizer provides nutrients and energy for the grass roots, which can multiply in cooler temperatures before they go dormant. The grass roots also store food for winter, giving it an initial growth spurt after it emerges from dormancy.

Winterize Garden Hoses

Sometimes, it is possible to forget to drain your garden hoses before you put them away for winter. It’s usually not a problem. Sometimes, however, freezing water can cause a hose to break open. It is possible to have to replace some hoses (or even a few) that are very cheap. It’s just a waste of money. Draining hoses is quick and easy. Use an air compressor to blast out water or stretch them on a sloped area or driveway.

Three Steps to Winterize Your Ride Mower

Take a few moments to ensure that your riding mower does not hibernate for the winter.

Corrosion can be caused by moisture in an unaltered engine. Fogging the engine, which is spraying oily mist into each of its cylinders to prevent corrosion, can be done. You can remove the spark plugs, then spray some aerosol fogging spray (available at auto parts shops). Next, reinstall your spark plugs.

A battery not fully charged can cause permanent damage, especially in colder weather. The battery should be connected to a charger and charged until it reaches 12.7 volts.

The fuel system can become clogged up over time from stored gas, which can lead to costly repairs. Add a fuel stabilizer like STA-BIL, Seafoam, to your gas tank before winter. It is also a good idea to add stabilizer year-round to your gas can. However, stabilizers won’t work in gasoline containing ethanol. Run the engine until you are sure the gas is clear.

Another tip: Protect the exhaust and air intake openings with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to prevent critters from nesting in your engine during winter.

Call Conner’s Lawn Care Service if you need help with lawn care.

Conner’s Lawn Care Service
Myrtle Beach, SC
843-504-4901
http://connerslawncare.com/

Tips to help your lawn grow

lawn careIt’s fall and time to fertilize your lawn. Why not fertilize your lawn in fall? Your lawn care routine should include fertilizing your lawn in the fall to strengthen the roots of your plants and lawn, so they can thrive next spring.

First, you need to know the formula of fertilizer. This formula is made up of three numbers such as the 5-10-5. The first number is nitrogen. This promotes leaf growth and lawn blade growth. The second number is phosphorus. The third number is potassium. It promotes cell function as well as absorption of trace elements. What do you fertilize? What time? What? Let’s begin with your lawn.

Lawn Care Tips: When is the Best Time to Apply Fertilizer in Fall?

September is the best month for fertilizing Conway SC your lawn in fall. The grass is in recovery from a hot summer, and may have entered a drought-induced dormancy. To encourage blade growth, you will need to fertilize your lawn with nitrogen.

Best Fall Lawn Fertilizer It will grow again if you use a fertilizer with a 20-8-8 formula. Follow the recommended application rate. Although some people apply weed and insecticides at this time, I believe that fertilizer should be used only if there are no signs of trouble.

This fall lawn fertilizer dosage is crucial, but it is best to apply it at the beginning of October or in November. Apply a fertilizer containing 13-25-12 at that time. A push of phosphorus can stimulate root growth throughout November and into December. You can help roots grow faster and make your lawn more resistant to diseases and draught by helping them do so before winter sets in.

Plant fertilizer

After the lawn is in good shape, it’s time for you to think about plants. Perennials are beginning to fade by now. However, they will still benefit from the 0-20-0 superphosphate fertilizer sprinkled around them in the recommended amounts and lightly cultivated into their soil. You’ll see stronger plants next spring with more flowers.

Tree and shrub fertilizer

It’s a great time of year for yard maintenance like fertilize trees and shrubs. All trees and shrubs require fertilizer because they are mostly located in mulch beds which use up nitrogen as the decompose. We also rake leaves from these mulch beds every fall, removing the nutrients that leaves would normally release.

For compensation, I recommend using one to three pounds slow-release nitrogen for every 1,000 feet of bed. Also, cultivate lightly. Calculate the area of your beds to determine the amount of fertilizer needed. Then, consult your local garden center or your landscaping Conway SC expert. To promote root growth, I recommend fertilizing trees in late October and early November.

These nutrients will remain in the soil until spring, when plants begin to grow. Super phosphate can be used to promote the growth of trees and shrubs that are not flowering well. If the plant isn’t in the right place, all the superphosphate in the world will not make it bloom.

Bulb Fertilizer

Bulb planting is best done in fall. Super phosphate is what I use to encourage root growth and ensure strong flowering in spring. Although some people recommend using bone meal for planting bulbs, I find it attracts rodents that eat both the bones meal and the bulbs.

Fall fertilizing has one goal. This is to encourage root growth. Strong roots will produce many flowers. Push those roots!

Call Conner’s Lawn Care Service if you need help in dealing with your lawn care needs and issues.

Conner’s Lawn Care Service
Myrtle Beach, SC
843-504-4901
http://connerslawncare.com/